Costa cruise ship adrift after catching fire; no injuries

Associated Press

Monday

Feb 27, 2012 at 10:25 AMFeb 27, 2012 at 4:08 PM

An Italian cruise liner carrying more than 1,000 people was adrift without power in the pirate-infested Indian Ocean on Monday after a fire erupted in its generator room. The blaze was extinguished without causing any injuries, an official said.

Tug boats from the island nation of Seychelles were steaming toward the drifting Costa Allegra, which had 636 passengers and 413 crew members on board, but they were not expected to arrive until Tuesday afternoon at the earliest.

Italian coast guard officials said a large French fishing boat could be the first vessel to reach the stricken cruise liner.

Monday's fire on the Costa Allegra immediately raised fears, since it occurred only six weeks after one of its sister ships, the Costa Concordia, hit a reef and capsized off Italy, killing 25 people and leaving seven missing and presumed dead. Both ships are operated by Costa Crociere SpA, which is owned by the Florida-based Carnival Corp.

However, company officials rushed to play down concerns.

The Costa Allegra is adrift "and being pushed by the current. It is stable and upright," Costa Crociere SpA official Giorgio Moretti told reporters in a conference call late Monday from company headquarters in Genoa, Italy.

No one was injured in the fire in the generator room and the cause of the fire was under investigation, Moretti said. The fire knocked out power to the ship's engines as well as to its lights and air conditioning.

Italian Coast Guard officials said emergency generators were keeping the ship's control room illuminated and communications equipment such as radios running. Officials said the cruise liner was holding steady, despite 5-foot (1.5 meter) waves in the area and passengers were being kept in the ship's big communal rooms, not in their cabins.

Moretti, a longtime Costa captain, said he expected the 636 passengers aboard would spend the night on outside decks. Among them were 212 Italian, 31 British and eight U.S. passengers, he said.

Costa Crociere SpA said in a statement the ship was about 20 miles (32 kilometers) from Alphonse Island, one of the atolls in the Seychelles, a nation of islands and atolls that is a popular tourist destination.

The Allegra had left northern Madagascar, off Africa's southeast coast, on Saturday and was cruising toward the port of Victoria, Seychelles' capital, when the fire erupted. Costa said the Allegra had been due in Victoria on Tuesday.

The general region where the cruise ship was adrift — off the coast of Tanzania — has seen a rash of attacks by Somali pirates, but they have never hijacked a cruise ship.

Moretti said an armed nine-member Italian military team on anti-pirate duty was aboard, but he insisted the maritime region where the ship was now "isn't a high risk area for pirates."

"If pirates attack, the armed guards on board will respond. But as far as I am aware, no pirates have been sighted in the area," said Seychelles presidential spokeswoman Srdjana Janosevic.

A cargo ship was due to reach the Costa Allegra early Tuesday, and Moretti said it would bring batteries and otherwise help with communications. On Tuesday morning, a helicopter is expected to arrive, ferrying in "fresh food, cell phones and walkie talkies."

Tugs from the Seychelles island of Mahe, the largest island in the Indian Ocean archipelago, will arrive Tuesday afternoon.

"Once they arrive, they will decide which port" to take the Allegra to, Moretti said. "It depends on sea conditions."

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D'Emilio reported from Rome.

A fire in the generator room of a cruise ship on Monday cloaked more than 1,000 people in darkness and set the vessel adrift in a region of the Indian Ocean where Somali pirates have been active, officials said.

No casualties were reported, but the accident aboard the Costa Allegra occurred about six weeks after the Concordia — another Italian cruise ship owned by the same company — capsized off Italy, killing 25 people and leaving seven missing and presumed dead.

Tug boats from the island nation of Seychelles were steaming to the powerless ship. But the tugs were not expected to reach it until Tuesday afternoon at the earliest, and a top Seychelles military official said he could not yet say when the cruise ship might be brought back to port.

"The passengers are fine," Italian Coast Guard Cmdr. Cosimo Nicastro told SkyTG24 TV. But the fire left the cruise liner "without propulsion," meaning the ship, with 636 passengers and 413 crew members aboard, was adrift in the sea because the engines weren't working, he said. But "the fire danger is over," Nicastro said.

Costa Crociere SpA, which is based in Genoa, Italy, said in a statement that its ship was about 20 miles (12.5 kilometers) from Alphonse Island, one of the atolls in the Seychelles, a nation of islands and atolls that is a popular tourist destination.

Seychelles officials were investigating evacuating passengers using the small airstrip on Alphonse Island.

The general region where the cruise ship was adrift — off the coast of Tanzania — has seen a rash of attacks by Somali pirates, but they have never hijacked a cruise ship. A Seychelles official said armed guards are on board the cruise ship. She said that is standard practice for cruise ships "these days."

"If pirates attack, the armed guards on-board will respond. But as far as I am aware, no pirates have been sighted in the area," said Seychelles presidential spokeswoman Srdjana Janosevic.

Costa Crociere said in a statement that after the fire began in its Costa Allegra's electric generator room, "the special firefighting units intervened to extinguish it."

"The fire did not spread to any other area of the ship. There were no injuries or casualties," the statement said. It did not say what caused the fire.

The cruise company said that a general emergency alarm was "promptly sounded" as a precaution, and that all passengers and crew not involved in the emergency reached assembly points.

The Florida-based Carnival Corp. is the parent company of Costa Crociere.

After the Concordia cruise ship struck a reef off Italy's tiny Tuscan island on Jan. 13, its captain was arrested and several other officials were placed under investigation. When the Concordia listed to one side, many people hadn't been evacuated on life boats and some jumped into the sea. Concordia passengers said that the order to evacuate came about an hour after the ship was speared by the reef and started taking on water.

On Monday, Italian coast guard officials dispatched cargo ships near the Costa Allegra to help the cruise ship and its passengers.

The Seychelles coast guard and air wing mobilized, and an aircraft was flying over the ship late Monday evening, said Janosevic. The island's port authority sent two tugs to the stricken ship.

"And there are fishing vessels in the vicinity, large ones, that are going to provide support as well," Janosevic said. "They have assistance coming to them."

The Allegra had left northern Madagascar, off Africa's southeast coast, on Saturday and was cruising toward the port of Victoria, Seychelles' capital, when the fire erupted. Costa said the Allegra had been due in Victoria on Tuesday.

Lt. Col. Michael Rosette, the deputy chief of Seychelles defense forces, told The Associated Press in Nairobi that the tugs would take the cruise ship back to Port Victoria, but he could not provide the timing of that arrival. The coast guard told Seychelles Broadcasting Corp. TV that the tugboats would not reach the Costa Allegra until Tuesday afternoon.

"We don't know yet because the tug is on the way. Once they reach the ship, we can establish a speed. We don't know how fast it will be able to go yet," Rosette said.

Nicastro said it would take time for the tugs to reach the Allegra and then get it to port, estimating that the arrival in the Seychelles capital would unlikely be before afternoon Tuesday.

The ship was some 235 nautical miles from the Seychelles capital as of 8 p.m. local time Monday.

The Allegra was built in Italian shipyards in 1992, is 615-feet (188 meters) long, and has eight passenger decks and 399 cabins.

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Associated Press Writer Frances D'Emilio reported from Rome.

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